“You handled that well, Gael.”

“Did I?”

Naomi smiled. “You handled it better than I did, I think. Don’t ask me to throw another fight, though.”

Gael’s eyes flicked from the nothing that usually occupied them to her face, then back. “Ok.”

Naomi stopped and put a hand out, drawing him close. Wynn and the others, further ahead on the trail, turned back. She shook her head and waved them on, then turned back to him. “Gael, what’s wrong?”

His gaze drifted over her, not really seeing. “Nothing.”

“Gael,” she said, putting a hand to his cheek. “Please. Look at me.”

When they finally locked eyes, she smiled at him. “It’s ok. You know you can talk to me. Any of us.”

A small smile drifted across his face for a moment before he looked down again. “I know.”

“What is it?”

“I… I threatened him. I could have killed him, right there.”

“Ezek?” She frowned. “I imagine, one way or the other, one of us will have to. Why does that bother you?”

“Wouldn’t it bother you?”

She opened her mouth and then closed it, considering him and the question. “Yeah. Yeah, it would. Of course it would.”

“Why?”

“Because he’s a person?” she said, frowning.

“But you’d do it.”

“Yes.”

Gael’s eyes flicked to hers for a moment, then away again.

“Have you killed before?”

“No, of course not.”

“I don’t mean people. Have you killed anything at all?”

Naomi snorted. “Not for lack of trying. You know I can’t fish worth a damn.”

“True,” Gael grinned for a moment. “You know I’ve done it. Killed fish. A lot of fish.”

Naomi shrugged. “So? People are different.”

“They are,” Gael said solemnly. “That’s the problem.”

“How do you figure?”

“I always imagined it’d be different. I knew that martyrs fought people, sometimes. I thought I’d feel guilty even thinking about it. But last night…”

Naomi thought she understood then. “Last night, it wasn’t different.”

“It was,” Gael hissed, suddenly staring at her. “I didn’t see a person. I didn’t even see an animal.” he raised a hand, pointing at the scab on her neck. “All I saw was that. That, and his throat.”

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“Gael…”

“He hurt you, Naomi. No one should hurt you. Any of you.” His eyes suddenly brimmed, his voice dropping to a whisper. “I wanted him dead. I’ve never wanted that before. I could have done it. I might even have... I don't know. I don't know, and that scares me.”

Naomi went to him, hugged him close. Gael was stiff for a moment and then relaxed, returning the hug.

“In the creche, our teachers said that martyrs fight for each other first. Then the Nineteen. Then humanity.” Naomi rose to her toes and gently knocked her forehead against his. “You love your friends, Gael. That's not a bad thing, it's... You've never had someone to protect, have you? It was always you being protected, before all this.”

"Yes... Yes, that's it." Gael smiled at her, smiled without any uncertainty.

"Me too. It's scary, but we all have each other."

He looked away, shrugging. “Father said-”

“And what did Kaya say about referencing your parents?” She said in a crisp schoolteacher's voice.

Gael chuckled, running an arm across his face and then yelping.

“What is it?” Naomi asked?

“Studs,” he said ruefully, wiping at his eye.

She looked at his arm, noticing the pattern of metal studs there, then back at him, and they burst out laughing together.

They caught up with their friends at the treeline just as the sun began to dip beneath the horizon. The river, the same they had followed earlier, stretched into the distance, its length dotted with trees.

“You two alright?”

“Gael was thinking about Ezek,” Naomi said, passing a significant glance toward Wynn.

“Ah,” they said, nodding.

“Yes,” Gael said. “Ah.” He peered at the horizon. “This looks bad.”

“I don’t like it either,” Naomi said. “It’s too open.”

“You’re the one who grew up in space,” Kaya said. “Why are you the agoraphobe?”

“I’m not scared, I just don’t like it! What are we going to do if another ape soars up?”

“Want t’see t’bison, I,” Tyver said dreamily. “I recall bison. Tasty.”

“You are not helping,” Naomi said narrowly.

“He’s got a point. It would be good to have something other than herbs, nuts, and fish, fish, fish.” Wynn said, smiling at Gael. Gael didn’t react, and Wynn turned to find him frowning at the clouds.

“What?”

“Red sky,” Gael repeated, making it sound much more informative than it was.

“Yes, sunset. What of it?”

Gael blinked, then blinked again and smiled. “Oh! It’s a sea thing. Red skies mean trouble.”

“What, you mean storms?” Kaya asked. "We’re bound to deal with bad weather at some point, Gael. In a sense, we’ve all done it. We're martyrs," she said, voice going dramatic and deep as she thumped her chest. "We can take it."

“Seeing a thing, even through the recall, is not doing the thing. Doing that,” he said, pointing at the horizon “is going to be awful.”

“So we stay in the woods?” Naomi asked hopefully.

There was a long, considering pause until Kaya broke the silence. “We’re not on your sea, Gael, and the apes can do more than ‘soar up.’ We’ve dealt with it before, and we still have the disruptor. What do you think is best?”

Gael looked down at her with an uncertain smile. “You’re right. The apes are going to be a problem wherever we are, but Ezek is coming. If we’re out there, we’ll at least see him coming.”

“Not in a storm,” Naomi groused.

“Buck up,” Tyver said. “Might not rain.”

Hours later, Gael smiled up into the cracked, flooding sky as lightning flashed overhead, counting the seconds. “This is nice!” he shouted. “Not nearly as bad as it looked.”

His friends eyed him, the downpour, and each other as the thunder rolled, not bothering to comment. It was miserable: the river had swollen its banks and turned the surrounding area into a slog of grass and gritty water. Nothing outside the metweave bags they carried was dry, and the jags of night constant lightning seemed about to crash down on top of them at any moment.

Gael, the mad lunatic, stood and raised his arms into the storm, laughing. “Taste the rain, come on!”

When they didn’t move to join him he turned, still smiling, and Wynn found a matching smile suddenly playing across their own face. Gael offered them a hand and they took it, rising. Opening their mouth to the sky…

Well, Wynn hadn’t expected that. Raised on a city spire perpetually on the edge of choking on its own fumes, Wynn had never imagined that rain could taste cool, clean, almost sweet. Wynn found themselves laughing too, and offered a hand to Naomi.

In a few minutes the friends were standing together beneath the storm. Holding hands, eyes on the sky, they drank the rain together, enjoying that strange moment of peace.